Press



May 24'11927 P. J. HoRGAN PRESS Filed Aug. e, 1924 Patented May 24, i927..

UNITED STATES man PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK J'. HOB-GAN, 0F BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CCRPORATION, CF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW ranas.

Application filed August 6, 1924. Serial No. 730,46L

This invention relates to clicking machines. The invention is illustrated as embodied in a machine of the type set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 921,503, granted May 11, 1909, on application of Arthur Bates. i

' Clicking machines of this well-known commercial type comprisek a cutting block to support shoe upper leather or other sheet material, and a presser member having a pressure-applying surface of much less area than the area of the cutting block and arranged to be swung laterally over the block into and out of co-operative relation to a die freely movable and positioned by the operator as desired relatively to the material to be cut.A Initially the presser member is ,positioned at one side of thel cutting block to uncover all or the greater part of its surface to facilitate arranging the upper leather or other material to be operatedupon on the block and to permit inspection of the material and the positioning of the die upon it. After the sheet material to be cut has been arranged on the block and the die has been located by the operator in the desired position,'the operator grasps a handle on the presser member and swings it over the die. The machine is then operated to force the die through the material to cut a blank from it.

rThe elort required to swing the presser 1member by hand has made very considerable demands on the strength of the operator.

' The presser member of a clicking machine of the typereferred to must be long enough to operate upcn a die positioned anywhere on the cutting block, and the cutting block must be large enough to support suitably skins of upper leather as well as other sheets of material of considerable area. r1`he width dimension of the pressen member must be such that the presser` member will operate eectively upon dies of-cconsiderable size, such vas dies for cutting out the larger shoe upper parts. To provide suicient rigidity so that dies positioned to be operated upon by the extreme end of the presser member will be forced properly through material, the presser member 'must be relatively deep. Consequently, the iron presser members with which clicking machines have heretofore been provided have-'been necessarily relatively heavy, and the labor required to overcome the inertia of such a presser member its. operation considerably slower,

in starting it and in swinging it over the cutting block and to overcome its momentum to stop it in proper relation to the die repeatedly throughout a work day has been arduous.

llt has long been recognized that it is undesirable that so much labor be required of the operator of a clicking machine, because it is very important that the operator devote his attention primarily andgive his best efforts to arranging the material on the cutting block and to planning the cutting of the material. As is well known, it is especially important in the cutting of shoe upper leather to plan the cuts to obtain the best possible values from a given skin and to minimize waste. lDiferent'skins vary greatly in respect to such characteristics as l stretchiness, grain and color and in respect to blemishes of various kinds. Great care must be taken,'therefore, to plan the cutting of any piece of upper leather so that its various parts will be utilized for the cutting of shoe part blanks forwhich they are best adapted. Moreover, the various shoe upper parts are of irregular and widely dif- Since upper leather 1s exl pensive, every effort must be made to avoid unnecessary waste. All this requires careful and intelligent planning. rllhe fatigue'heretoore caused by the physical e'ort required to move the presser member of a clicking machine laterally over the bed into and out of operative relation to the die .has impaired the eliiciency of the operator and has interfered with his giving his best edorts to inspecting and planning his work.

A large number of developments designed lto reducev the manual labor required of the operator, and `his consequent distraction and fatigue, have been proposed. Machines have been built in this country and abroad embodying power mechanisms of various types for swinging the presser member laterally over the cutting block'into'andf out of tering shapes.

operative relation to a die on the block.

While these mechanisms lessened the physical eiort required of the operator,` they were'more or less complicated, greatly increasing the cost of the machine, they made' thereby decreasing its output, and none of them proved commercially acceptable.-

In view of the foregoing considerations, it is an object ofthis invention tu minimize the energy which it is necessary for the operator to exert in starting the presser member of a clicking machine, swinging 1t laterally over the cutting block, and stopping it in the desired position relatively .to a die positioned.l on the work, while retalning all the characteristc advantages which have made clicking machines of the type above referred to so successful.- i

This is accomplished by the present 1nvention by the provision of a clicking machine organization in which the .presser member has a density very much less than that of any presser member heretofore proposed, and yet is sufiiciently hard and rigid.

' rlhe illustrated clicking machine is provided sion-s, such as lheretofore employed, nevertheless it resists satisfactorily the bending strains to which it is subjected when \1ts free end portion is operating on a die and withstands the battering of the YVresser member against the dies without amage either to the presser member as a whole or to Aits striking surface.

The operation of a clicking machine so organized requires littlev manual labor on the part of the operator in starting the lateral movementof the presser member, in swinging it over the cutting block, or .in stoppingjt in proper location over the die,

,- Consequently, inspection and planning of the work are facilitated. Moreover, since the operation ofthe machine is much less fatiguing than that of clicking machines as heretofore constructed and since the ease of operation ofthe presser member naturally results in more rapid swinging of that member than heretofore the production of the machine is increased. The increase in output over present commercial machines of the type above referred to has been found to be from ten per cent to as much as twenty y or thirty per cent, depending upon conditions. Indeed, the ease of operation is such that it is practicable for women to operate clicking machines constructed in accordance with the present invention, while hereltofore the labor of swinging and stopping the cast iron presser members has .practically limited the operation of clicking machines to men.

A further advantage resulting from the present invention is` conspicuously apparent in the cutting of fabrics, particularly in the neaaevo cutting yof piles each com rising a substantial number of layers of abric. ln operating upon such piles of fabric, it is especially important that the swinging of the presser member be terminated before it strikes the die to avoid producing a slanting cut through the'layers of fabric and thus causing either the production of. imperfect blanks or excessive Waste. in the use of clicking machines constructed in accordance with the present invention, so little effort is required to check the momentum of the presser member that no ditliculty is eX- rienced in stopping its swinging movement before the initiation of a pressure-applying operation of the machine, and the likelihood of moving the die laterally during the cutting is practically eliminated. Even if the operator is careless and the presser member is not brought absolutely to a stop before the cutting takes place, the die, because ofthe smaller momentum ofthe presser member, will have only a small fraction of the sidewise movement which occurs in the use of machines havin castV iron presser members, and the slant imparted toA the cut will be negligible.

- Considered from' another standpoint, the reduction in the'inertia and momentum of the presser member of the illustrated clicking machine, as compared with the heavy iron presser members heretofore used, pro-' duces a more uniform operation of the machine with attendant advantages.` The vi- I bration of the machine is lessened so that it may be used on factory floors not suitable for clicking machines as heretofore constructed; there is less wear and tear'of the machine, largely due to its lessened vibration; and it operates with less noise.

Fig. 1 illustrates in side elevation and partly in section a `clicking machine embodying the invention; and

Fig. 2 is atop plan view showing the cutting block and the presser member of the illustrated machine.

The invention is herein disclosed as embodied in' a clicking machine of the type illustrated in the above-mentioned United States Letters Patent No. 921,503, to which reference may be had for -a detailed description of the construction and arrangement of parts of the machine not fully described herein. Accordingly, the illust-ratedy machine is provided with a presser member a C-shaped frame member 22 so that the presser member 18 may be swung transversely above a cutting block 24 upon which is placed the material to be cut. The presser,

V18 secured to a post 20 suitably journaled in innesco gage edectively dies for cutting the larger shoe upper parts, and deep enough to give it the stiness necessary to cause it lto stand up under the severe pounding to which it is subjected, it has been very heavy.

The presser member 18 of the illustrated machine is composed of an aluminum alloy, indica-ted conventionally by the numeral 25 (Fig. l), which is suciently rigid to insure that a die placed under thei outer end of the presser member will be operated on substantially as effectively as a die placed near the post 20, and-hard enough so that its striking lace will be maintained substantially smooth and unscarred as well as ree trom distortion under the hammering to which it is subjected in impinging repeatedly upon the dies.

'lhe alloy ot this presser member has a high aluminum content and acorrespondingly low density, the presser member thus weighing less than half as much as a cast iron presser member ot like dimensions such as has heretofore been usedD rlhis minimises the edort required in starting and stopping the presser menber and in moving it laterally over the bloclr., The operator is required, 'lor example, to expend only about sia cot'pounds off energy to produce such a swinging movement oithe presser member laterally over the cutting block as heretofore required the expenditure ol ten or eleven loot-pounds. lt may be noted that the decrease in the energy necessary to swing the beam is almost proportional to the deu crease in the weicht oli the beam, the discrep.m due the loss et energy used to overcome frnotion, which is approximately the in the new `and old machines.,

Satisfactory 'ormulm 'lor the alloy ol the presser the following:

(al r mumu 4% copper; l%

nicher; 5% n- ....iganese; .5% magno suini A tbl 8-3,5% aluminum; '1,7% amc; 2.75%

copper iron., ,Y

lt wi understood, however, that varia tions may be i ade the above `formulae within the oli the invention,

For reciprocating the presser member i8 to cause it to torce a die 26 through material to be cut, the illustrated machine is provided with power means such as are disclosed .in the "United States Letters -Patent referred to, this power means yincluding a onorevolution clutch controlled from a trip handle 28 mounted upon the presser member t8, and gearing arranged, when the clutch is ren dered operative, to cause a longitudinal reciprocatvion ot post 20 and a corresponding reciprocation oit presser member le.

ln the operation the machine, the presser member l is swung to one side, leaving all or the greater part ol the surface ot the cutting bloclr t exposed. rllhe sheet maq terial to be operated upon, for example, upper leather or fabric, is arranged upon the cutting block. ln the case of upper leather particularly, they material is care,- ully inspected in order to plan the cut- T0 ting to the best advantage, both to minimize waste and to cut the .different shoe parts from the portions of the skin which may be usedto the best advantage for the several parts. A die 26 is then placed in the desiredp'osition on tithe material to be cut, the presser member 18 is swung by the operator into position over the die, and the machine is tripped by a downward movement ot the handle 26. 'lhe pressure-applying operation is thus initiated so that the presser member i8 descends upon the die, torcing it through the material to be cut, and then returns to its raised position. After this the operator swings the presser member laterally to one side ot the bloclrfor the removal ot the cut blanlr and the repositioning ot the same Vdie or the positioning oli another die on the material.

lt will thus be apparent that it is necessary lor the operator to swing the presser member bach and forth above the bloclr very requent intervals' throughout the The etiort involved, which has heretofore been burdensome on account ci the weight U5' `the presser member, is reduced, in the case of the machine ci the present inver.n tion, to such an extent that little labor is required start lateral movement oi presser member, over the c bloclr, or checlr itsmonientum to stop die., The operator naturally swi lighter presser more rapidly, some conserving .his e ge is :tree to give his best efforts f shoe per Ither or other material "o be cut on the cut gfbloclz, to inspect' and. to planning the cutting I the ma The greater ease oper 'on el le proved machine results in increase quantity blanks cut, to as as I irty per cent over daily production ligures `for clicking chinesfas heretofore constructed. Thus f, ease ot operation and increase oit outp sulting from the 'present invention are ci Vsuch a magnitude that, trom the practical standpoint, the invention constitutes a remarlrable advance,i

A further advantage conspicuous in the cutting ot piles each comprising a sub sntial number ol layers ot fabric 4is by reason of thegreat reduction in the inertia and momentum et the presser member, the operator may readily stop the swing" movement et the presser member before pressure-applying operation, so tiat likelihood ot the presser member strilii` the die while it is still moving laterally, thereby producing a slanting cut, is pi tically` eliminated. Even if the operator through carelessness fails to stop the swinging movement of the presser member absolutely before it strikes the die, the sidewise movement of the die Will be so much less for any given speed than in the use of clicking machines as constructed heretofore, due to the greatly decreased momentum ot the presser member, that the slant imparted to the cut vvill be negligible. rThis avoids the production of imperfect blanks such as have heretofore been found likely to result, particularly if the lcutting edge of the die, as the result of a slanting cut, intersected the edge ot the lowermost layers of the fabric. At the same time, the practical elimination of sidewise movement ot' the die reduces Waste such as occurred when the die moved sidevvise in a direction away from the adjacent edge of the fabric and thereby produced unnecessary Waste between adjacent piles of blanks.

l'fltaving thus described my inventiomwhat l claim'as new and desire to secure by Letters` Patent of the United States is 1. ln a clicking machine, the combination with a cutting block of a presser member movable by hand laterally over the block to position it over a die placed in any selected position onsheet material supported'on the block and also movable toward and from the die, said presser member being composed of an aluminum alloy having a hardness approximating that of iron and accordingly adapted to resist the Wear to Which it is subjecte-d and having a relatively low density whereby the presser member has a relatively small inertia and momentum, to minimize the effort required of the operator in starting and stopping the presser member and in moving it laterally over the block, and power means for reciprocating the presser member Maaate toward and from the die to force the die through the sheet material supported on the cutting block. l 2. ln a clickin machine they combination of a cutting bloc a presser member movable by hand laterally over the block to position it over a die placed in any selected position on sheet material supported by the block and also movable toward and from the die, said presser member being composed of an aluminum alloy having "a high aluminum content and correspondingly low density to minimize the inertia and momentum of the presser member and thereby to minimize the labor required of the operator in starting and stopping the presser member and in moving it laterally over the block, and means for reciprocating the presser member to- Ward and from the die to force the die through the sheet material on the cutting block. i

3. A presser member for clicking machines composed ot an aluminum alloy having a high aluminum content.

4. A presser member for clicking machines composed of a copper and zinc alloy of aluminum having from 85% to 95% of aluminum./ i

5. A clicking machine having a meehani-A cally reciprocated presser member arranged t0 direction of pressure, characterized by the `fact that the swinging Ypresser member is composed of a hard alloy having a high percentage of aluminum, the density of which is considerably less than that of iron, to minimize both the inertia and the momentum of the transversely swinging presser member. I

ln testimony whereof* l havessigned my name to this specification.

PATRICK el. MORGAN.

e swung manually transversely of the. 

